In 1992 this young woman was murdered in broad daylight on Wimbledon Common in front of her two-year-old son. Rachel Nickell was stabbed 49 times and sexually assaulted in a crime that shocked the nation. This is a story of a flawed investigation into Rachel’s death, a story that saw an innocent man persecuted after a botched police undercover operation. It was to take the police 16 years to convict her real killer, Robert Napper. (Murder Cases: Napper & Miscarriages of Justice: Stagg) Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s8e2: Rachel Nickell: Case Closed, ITV 2008
His victims were invariably women with their children. ibid.
Police had recovered DNA from three of the victims. ibid.
In the early 1990s south-east London was held in the grip of a serial rapist. The savage stalker was particular about his prey. As the violence intensified, his mind would turn to murder. But were these heinous crimes his destiny: was he born to kill? Born to Kill? s6e1: Robert Napper, CI 2017
The 27-year-old was a doting mum. ibid.
This unusual behaviour [at school] would make him an easy target. ibid.
His life had become increasingly isolated. ibid.
But one July morning in 1992 the peaceful family-friendly atmosphere was shattered by the discovery of the body of young mother Rachel Nickell. ibid.
The campaign of terror would become increasingly violent. ibid.
‘Police are appealing for witnesses after the brutal murder of a young mother in a south London park.’ Rachel Nickell: The Untold Story, news, ITV 2018
The murder of Rachel Nickell 25 years ago appalled the nation. ibid.
While the press hounded Colin [Stagg], serial killer Robert Napper roamed free and murdered again. ibid.
‘Police say the terrified son saw his mother being murdered.’ ibid. news
An astonishingly misguided police honey trap. ibid.
It would take 14 years before the police would finally identify the real killer and realise he could been stopped from killing again. ibid.
15th July 1992, London, England: On a summer morning 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was walking her dog Molly across Wimbledon Common with her 2-year-old son Alex. A man appeared from the undergrowth stabbing Rachel nearly 50 times then sexually assaulting her. Britain’s Most Evil Killers s4e7: Robert Napper, Sky Crime 2020
The depraved killer was 26-year-old Robert Napper. 16 months later he would strike again. ibid.
‘Police are appealing for witnesses after the murder of a young mother in a South London park. The body of the woman who was attacked in broad daylight was discovered on Wimbledon Common this morning. Her throat had been cut and it is thought she’d been sexually assaulted. Her two-year-old son was found clinging to her body.’ Death on the Common: My Mother’s Murder, news report, Channel 4 2021
‘And I said, Wake up Mummy, one more time, and she didn’t respond.’ ibid. son
A notorious murder on Wimbledon Common went undetected for more than a decade. How did groundbreaking forensics track down a serial rapist and killer who showed his victims no mercy. Cold Case Forensics: The Murder of Rachel Nickell, ITV 2023
The body of 23-year-old Rachel Nickell was viciously attacked and sexually assaulted while walking with her two-year-old son and pet dog. ibid.
So what had gone wrong, and could it have caused the police to miss the real killer? ibid.
For the first time two DNA profiles started to show up. ibid.
This groundbreaking work was to become known as DNA enhancement. And it was to be a gamechanger. ibid.
NARDO, ERIKA DE & MAURO FAVARO: Crime Stories TV -
February 21 2001: police in Italy investigate the scene of a brutal double murder. Within hours angry protesters demand justice: it soon becomes one of the country’s most infamous crimes. Crime Stories s7e7: The Slaying Sweethearts, Really 2017
Erika soon gives police a step by step account of the attack … allegedly committed by two Albanian men. ibid.
Erika’s behaviour since the night of the crime has also aroused suspicion … Erika and her boyfriend are now prime suspects. ibid.
NASEEM, ZAHID: Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
A wealthy city banker suspected of murder. Does his account add up? Or is he faking it? Faking It: Tears of a Crime s5e6: Zahid Naseem
26th May 2018: Police mount an urgent search for a 29-year-old woman. Hours earlier, Christina Abbots had missed a long-awaited get-together leaving her family to fear the worst. ibid.
2.20 a.m. Officers forced their way inside. There, they found her battered and blood-stained body in the bedroom. But she wasn’t alone. In an adjoining room and apparently unconscious a middle-aged man [Zahid Naseem] wearing only a dressing-gown.
He’s half-naked and he’s locked in a flat from the inside that doesn’t belong to him, and Christina’s body is in the bedroom next door. So he’s got some pretty big eplaining to do, hasn’t he? ibid. Kerry
The man was Zahid Naseem, a 47-year-old father of two, who lived 60 miles away in Buckinghamshire. ibid.
He had no explanation for why Christina is dead. ibid.
She’d been strangled with bare hands and bludgeoned thirteen times with the kitchen pestle. ibid.
NASH, ELMER: Cold Case Files TV -
February 16 1987, Everett, Washington: ‘A glow in the area of Everett Community College. The police officer responds to that location and observes a column of smoke and flame coming up from the roof of that structure, particularly in the area of the library. The officer requests the dispatch of the fire department.’ Cold Case Files s3e10: A Is For Arson, comment, CI 2022
Nearly an hour would pass before firefighters find Gary [Parks]. He lies motionless on the floor. ibid.
‘Most of the police at the time really knew who Elmer [Nash] was ’cause he was in constant trouble.’ ibid. comment
3 die in nursing home fire in north Seattle. ibid. newspaper
He continues to put himself on the scene … He eventually said that he had started the fire. ibid.
NASRI, FADI et al: Real Crime [with Mark Austin] TV - The Telegraph online - Faking It: Tears of a Crime TV -
Death on the doorstep: a special police constable [Nisha Patel-Nasri] killed in cold blood. What first looked like a burglary gone wrong became a tale of murder for hire. Real Crime [with Mark Austin] s7e6: A Very Special Constable, ITV 2008
The spring of 2006 ... May 11th police received reports of a stabbing in a quiet residential street. ibid.
Killed by a single knife wound to the groin. ibid.
The key was Fadi’s [husband] mobile phone ... One officer stumbled across some intriguing photographs. ibid.
When Nisha first met him, Fadi was running Seventh Heaven from his mobile phone with girls working from his one-bedroom flat. ibid.
Fadi had paid Roger Leslie to organise the murder of his wife. Leslie in turn had hired hit-man Jason Jones to do the actual killing. ibid.
After a three month Old Bailey trial, Nasri was convicted of murdering special constable Nisha Patel-Nasri after starting an affair with a Lithuanian prostitute.
The court heard that Nasri gave his front door keys to the killer before leaving his wife alone in their house in Wembley, north London. The Telegraph online article 28th May 2008
2006: Death on the doorstep: A special police constable stabbed and a husband suspected. Were his television appeals genuine or was he faking it? Faking It: Tears of a Crime s2e7: Fadi Nasri
London, June 2006: Flowers are laid in honour of the young woman murdered in her own home. An intruder had stabbed her in the hallway. They left her bleeding to death on the doorstep. Her name: Nisha Patel-Nasri. ibid.
In 2003 she married Fadi Nasri, a businessman seven years her senior. ibid.
‘What’s wrong with this guy? He was trying to be convincing, and in doing so, that was the last thing he was.’ ibid. editor Crimewatch
He’d recently persuaded Nisha to sign a joint life insurance policy. ibid.
They were convinced he’d hired a hit squad to murder Nisha. ibid.